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Conservative MP Andrew Lawton is raising concerns about Bill C-9, the Liberals’ proposed “Combating Hate Act,” warning it could weaken protections for free expression and religious freedom in Canada.

Lawton said the legislation lowers the legal threshold for what qualifies as hate speech and risks criminalizing lawful expression. While some amendments at committee restored certain safeguards, including requiring the attorney general’s consent for prosecutions and maintaining the existing legal definition of hate, Lawton said many of the bill’s most troubling provisions remain.

The discussion comes amid a series of attacks targeting Jewish institutions. Canada is experiencing a wave of antisemitic crime involving assaults, vandalism, harassment and shootings at synagogues which are actions that are already illegal under existing laws.

“It was quite despicable for the Liberals to get up in the House of Commons and try to use these synagogue shootings this week as justification to pass Bill C-9,” Lawton said. “Not a single Liberal or anyone else for that matter could point to a single line in Bill C-9 that, if it were part of law now, would do anything about these acts.”

Instead, Lawton argued the government risks using the legislation to target lawful speech while failing to address the underlying violence.